When is the WoW Forever auction house cheapest during the day?

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% over. The pattern is read from the hourly price of the market's largest positions over the last few weeks, each hour against the day around it.

How is the hour-of-day pattern worked out?

Every hourly price is divided by the same item’s average over the 24 hours around it, so a price drifting up or down over the month does not make one end of the day look dear, and the 24 hours are then centred so an average hour reads 1.000. The best buy window is the cheapest run of three hours and the best sell window the dearest. Hours are UTC, with the hour on the wall in the zone most of the market’s players keep beside them.

How much history does the pattern need?

Each hour of the day needs a few days of scans behind it before its figure means anything. The confidence line reads the thinnest hour: settled from ten days of scans, provisional from three, too early under that, and no pattern at all while fewer than half the hours have been scanned. Scanning PvP Horde US through the night fills the gaps.

Best hours to buy and sell

Pick a market and an item. Every hour of the day shows its typical price, lowest buyout and listings, and the page names the cheapest hours to buy, the dearest to sell, and what the gap is worth after the 5 percent cut.

On PvP Horde US, "Mage-Eye" Blunderbuss is cheapest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific) and dearest from 07:00 to 10:00 UTC (23:00 to 02:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 82% after the 5 percent cut.

Current market: PvP Horde US. This browser opens every tool here until you pick another. Address for this market: ahledger.com/timing?market=forever/pvp/horde/us

1MarketEach house keeps its own hours.2WindowDays of scans the hours are averaged over.3ItemKept while you switch market or window; type another below.

Item

Best hours to buy

22:00 to 01:00 UTC

14:00 to 17:00 Pacific · index 0.884 · typical 64s 97c

Best hours to sell

07:00 to 10:00 UTC

23:00 to 02:00 Pacific · index 1.185 · typical 1g 9s 36c

Spread after the 5% cut

+82%

buy at the cheap hours' lowest buyout, sell at the dear hours' typical price

Confidence

Too early

Too early to trust: the thinnest hour has 2 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

"Mage-Eye" Blunderbussby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	43s	40s 67c	42	0.902	3
01:00	17:00	59s 65c	41s 50c	42	1.129	2
02:00	18:00	90s 77c	75s	29	0.899	5
03:00	19:00	73s 70c	47s 50c	36	1.129	4
04:00	20:00	1g 27s 27c	1g 17s 60c	36	0.936	5
05:00	21:00	41s	39s 33c	54	0.879	3
06:00	22:00	1g 21s 57c	93s 20c	39	0.936	5
07:00	23:00	1g 36s 21c	1g 3s 75c	39	1.156	4
08:00	00:00	67s 75c	41s 50c	40	1.204	4
09:00	01:00	1g 24s 11c	76s 40c	34	1.196	5
10:00	02:00	1g	86s	39	0.894	4
11:00	03:00	1g 17s 53c	1g 15s 40c	33	0.968	5
12:00	04:00	1g 17s 29c	1g 15s 60c	28	0.974	5
13:00	05:00	1g 11s 25c	1g 9s 75c	31	0.958	4
14:00	06:00	1g 10s 98c	1g 7s 75c	33	0.968	4
15:00	07:00	1g 10s 45c	1g 9s	34	0.969	4
16:00	08:00	1g 9s 66c	1g 8s	34	0.981	4
17:00	09:00	1g 9s 50c	83s	34	0.996	4
18:00	10:00	1g 21s 63c	77s 75c	30	1.199	4
19:00	11:00	1g 94c	74s	36	0.982	4
20:00	12:00	1g 9s 25c	74s	36	1.021	4
21:00	13:00	1g 90c	62s	32	0.975	4
22:00	14:00	78s 65c	65s	29	0.883	4
23:00	15:00	73s 25c	65s 25c	33	0.866	4

Under 1.000 is a cheap hour to buy; over 1.000 a good hour to sell. Days counts how many days that hour was scanned in the window. The same figures as JSON: /v1/timing/forever.pvp.horde.us/3041 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.989	1.002	5
01:00	17:00	1.038	0.955	4
02:00	18:00	1.027	0.936	6
03:00	19:00	1.027	1.012	6
04:00	20:00	0.985	1.072	6
05:00	21:00	0.995	1.116	4
06:00	22:00	0.980	1.167	6
07:00	23:00	1.006	1.182	4
08:00	00:00	1.032	1.117	5
09:00	01:00	1.036	1.083	6
10:00	02:00	0.998	1.048	5
11:00	03:00	0.997	1.123	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.123	6
13:00	05:00	0.986	0.984	5
14:00	06:00	0.988	0.961	5
15:00	07:00	0.999	0.917	4
16:00	08:00	1.001	0.868	5
17:00	09:00	0.987	0.874	5
18:00	10:00	1.025	0.864	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.875	5
20:00	12:00	0.988	0.920	5
21:00	13:00	0.974	0.934	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.904	4
23:00	15:00	0.974	0.963	5

Each hour is indexed against the 24 hours around it, item by item across the market's largest positions, then centred so an average hour reads 1.000. For the day-of-week pattern, see market structure.

▸How this is worked out

Every hourly price is divided by the same item's average over the 24 hours around it, so a price drifting over the month does not make one end of the day look dear. The best buy window is the cheapest run of three hours and the best sell window the dearest; the spread buys at the cheap window's lowest buyout and sells at the dear window's typical price less the cut. Forever's history restarts at launch, so a live market's pattern never includes beta scans.

Common questions

When is the WoW Forever auction house cheapest during the day?: Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% over. The pattern is read from the hourly price of the market's largest positions over the last few weeks, each hour against the day around it.
What is the best time of day to buy and sell "Mage-Eye" Blunderbuss?: On PvP Horde US, "Mage-Eye" Blunderbuss is cheapest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific) and dearest from 07:00 to 10:00 UTC (23:00 to 02:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 82% after the 5 percent cut.
How is the hour-of-day pattern worked out?: Every hourly price is divided by the same item’s average over the 24 hours around it, so a price drifting up or down over the month does not make one end of the day look dear, and the 24 hours are then centred so an average hour reads 1.000. The best buy window is the cheapest run of three hours and the best sell window the dearest. Hours are UTC, with the hour on the wall in the zone most of the market’s players keep beside them.
How much history does the pattern need?: Each hour of the day needs a few days of scans behind it before its figure means anything. The confidence line reads the thinnest hour: settled from ten days of scans, provisional from three, too early under that, and no pattern at all while fewer than half the hours have been scanned. Scanning PvP Horde US through the night fills the gaps.